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Jays’ Litsch finding his groove after gruesome pair of seasons

FORT MYERS, FLA.—If fortune and misfortune balance out in life, Jesse Litsch is primed for some of the good stuff — finally.

A spot in the Blue Jay rotation, now that would be just dandy, following two seasons of grievous bodily woes: Tommy John surgery in ’09 and under the knife again last season to repair a labral tear in his hip.

Not-so-ancient history but firmly in the past now, the just-this-week-turned-26 right-hander is convinced, and there was not a whole lot of evidence to the contrary in Toronto’s 7-4 win over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday, Litsch’s third appearance and second start of the spring training campaign.

“It was good to me,” said Litch after turning in 3.2 innings on the mound, surrendering two runs on three hits but pleased by limiting the damage in threatening situations on a damp afternoon when nothing came particularly easy.

“I didn’t necessarily have all my pitches today. As a pitcher, there are days that are going to be like that. You have to go out there and battle through it.”

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The cutter, he noted, cut too much and the change-up was going straight into the ground. Still, no worries, said Litsch, who came into the game riding five scoreless innings. “Just minor things, nothing big. You can’t have ’em all every day. These are the days that are good in spring training because you learn to work through them.”

He’s learned — because there was no choice — how to persevere through much graver predicaments. “The last two years have been crazy. So, to go out there and command everything like I’ve been doing feels great. Arm speed’s there, arm strength’s there. To get in jams and be able to get out of jams, that’s big for me.”

The composition of the starting roto for the Jays — at least the No. 4 and 5 spots — is a matter of much intrigue in Florida. Yet this is also a team in purported transition from long ball to short ball, more creative on the offence as perceived by manager John Farrell. On this day, he saw quite a bit of both.

Centre fielder Rajai Davis stroked a lead-off home run over the left-field wall on a 1-1 pitch, his second out-of-the-park blast in spring training. The bat-heft is bonus in a player whose great expectations emanate from fleet feet — 50 stolen bases with Oakland last year.

“Not bad, felt pretty good and I’m looking forward to getting better,” said the 30-year-old veteran, who homered, singled, doubled and drove in three runs. “I’ve been able to be more consistent per pitch as opposed to at-bat to at-bat.”

The manager has certainly noticed. “He’s really had much better timing, much better balance at the plate of late. He’s put some good swings on the ball and that’s not just ’cause he’s hit a couple of ball out of the ballpark. Just his bat path through the zone is more consistent than it was early in camp.

“He gives us a multi-dimensional guy who can run. He can be an exciting player.”

Also impressive was young Canadian Brett Lawrie, 2-for-3 with a walk and a homer, who pushed his Grapefruit League average to .381.

“He walks up to the plate with a lot of confidence,’’ said Farrell.

“I think equal to the ball he drove out to right-centre field, we look at (his) play at third base,” said Farrell. “He got rid of the ball quickly on a decent runner and those are some of the finer points that we’re really zeroing in on.”

The Jays are now 5-7 in Florida and host the Yankees on Friday in Dunedin.

NOT AS EASY AS 1-2-3: On Tuesday, right-handed starter Brandon Morrow suggested he was happy locked into the rotation between a pair of left-handers, Ricky Romero and Brett Cecil, providing for a different look for opponents to deal with every night. While refusing to confirm that was his rotation, manager John Farrell provided some solid clues.

“To say who’s one, who’s two, who’s three and so on, I don’t know if we’re at that point of designating those guys or are really ready to announce our opening-day starter,” Farrell said slyly. “But at the same time you look to arrive at some contrast in style. To split up the lefties that have effective changeups, yeah, you’d like to get some power in between those two.”

The manager proceeded to hint at the four and five spots as well.

“That’s what we’d also like if we’ve got a power arm in the five spot preceding Ricky the next time through. You always look to go into a three-game series forcing some need to adjust.”

Kyle Drabek is the power arm to pitch just before Romero, while Jesse Litsch would be the leading candidate to slip into the rotation’s four-hole behind Cecil.

GOING SLOWEY: While the Jays’ bullpen is seemingly overcrowded with relievers, Farrell was not ready to comment on a rumour that would see Twins starter Kevin Slowey headed to the Jays. Toronto has seven veteran relievers, one of whom is rumoured to be targeted by the Twins.

“Every right-hander that you referred to has the ability and capability of pitching at the major-league level,” Farrell said. “We do have the flexibility with a number of them with options that remain in their contracts. What that means as far as deals or any potential trades, that’s something that Alex (GM Anthopoulos), I’m sure, is working very diligently at.”

GO-GO JAYS: The Jays have stolen 15 bases in 12 spring games. For a power-happy roster, that’s a surprising total. Does it signal a change of direction for the team?

“We have the ability to put together a lineup that has two guys that are well-above-average base-stealers, that have proven track records,” said Farrell. “Depending on who ends up on this roster, could there be three of that type of guys. On those days when it’s a day game after a night game and you’ve got a little bit of . . . not necessarily a makeshift lineup, but a different lineup, it gives you the flexibility to adjust your lineup and create some runs.”

Farrell is referring to the addition of starting centre fielder Rajai Davis, plus the possibility of both Scott Podsednik and Corey Patterson on the bench.

“Importantly, we’re not trying to change the face of the offence per se. We’re just trying to add another component to it so we can have a little bit more of a drop-down menu from an offensive standpoint, so we can go ahead and attack an opponent or a very difficult pitcher.”

With files from Richard Griffin

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